The present invention relates generally to providing location-based services in a wireless network and, in particular, to providing service information based on the crossing of a service zone boundary by a mobile unit in a wireless network.
A number of different types of location based service applications have been developed or proposed for wireless networks, i.e., communications networks involving at least one wireless interface between communicating devices. Generally, such applications determine or otherwise obtain location information regarding the location of a mobile unit under consideration, e.g., a wireless telephone, PDA, wireless data terminal or the like—and provide service information based on the mobile unit location. Examples of location based service applications include E911, local service information and location-based billing applications. In E911 applications, emergency calls are routed to a selected dispatcher based on the location of origin of an emergency call. Location based service applications provide information regarding local services such as hotels or restaurants based on a request entered via a mobile unit. In location based billing applications, a rate for a call placed or received by a wireless telephone is dependent on the location of the phone, e.g., whether the phone is inside or outside of a “home zone” for the subscriber proximate to the subscriber's residence, business or other defined location. Various other applications have been proposed or implemented.
Location based service applications generally involve comparing a current (or recent) location to predefined service zone definitions to make either a binary determination (e.g., that the mobile unit is either inside or outside of a zone under consideration) or a matching determination (e.g., that the mobile unit location matches or overlaps one or more stored zone definitions). In either case, at one or more relevant processing steps, mobile unit location information corresponding to a particular time is compared to service location information corresponding to one or more service zones, service provided locations or other stored location information. Thus, in E911 applications the mobile unit location at the time of placing an E911 call may be compared to the dispatcher coverage zones of an emergency response network. In local service information applications, the location of a mobile unit at the time of submitting, for example, a local hotel information request, may be compared to a database of hotel location information. The location of a mobile unit during a call may be used by a location based billing application to establish billing parameters for the call.
In addition, location based service applications generally provide service information in response to an input by a subscriber or other application user invoking the application. In the case of local service information applications, the input is generally an explicit service request entered via the mobile unit. In E911 or location based billing applications, the location based service application may be invoked invisibly, from the perspective of the mobile unit, upon making a call. In other cases, the input invoking the application to provide service information based on the location of the mobile unit, is received from an application separate or remote from the mobile unit requesting location based service information, e.g., identification of current mobile unit location. In such applications, the service information is nonetheless provided in response to an input requesting location-based services. That is, the trigger event generally is, from the perspective of the service application, a service request.